NEWS: Online Lottery Fraud: 3 Nigerians Held

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The cyber crime police of Thiruvananthapuram have arrested three Nigerian nationals in connection with an online lottery fraud case involving over Rs 2 crore.

The accused were arrested from a residence at Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh on Monday night.

The cyber crime officials also brought the culprits to the city later on Tuesday for further legal proceedings. The arrested were identified as Charles Chukuvadi, 39, Victor Ozundu, 41 and Obiyajula, 46.

Police said the three accused were arrested based on a complaint lodged by a person hailing from Malayinkeezhu on the outskirts of the city. The accused had duped him to the tune of Rs 30 lakh after the latter received e-mails and messages in which he was asked to pay some amount for the smooth transfer of lottery amount into the bank account provided by the accused.

Upon further investigation, the sleuths received circumstantial digital evidence regarding several people from inside and outside the state who had become victims of the online lottery mafia.

The probe team reached Noida after a detailed investigation regarding the culprits and they were traced to the Sigma sector at Greater Noida. Initially, the police found it difficult to trace the accused as the latter used to change their locations frequently. However, the sleuths zeroed in on the culprits at gunpoint as the latter resorted to attack the cops. Following the inspection at the residence, the officials seized four laptops, 30 mobile phones, 11 dongles and 135 SIM cards, in addition to fake certificates of  various state governments.

“The accused managed to open bank accounts in the name of poor people in the interior parts of northern and north-eastern parts of India.

“During interrogation, the accused revealed that they used to buy the active SIM cards at paltry rates from various markets in the interior parts of Delhi. Shockingly, they also used to get the bank account details of active customers after paying Rs 5,000. The accused will be interrogated once again after bringing them to the cyber crime office,” said the police.

The accused are likely to be produced before the magistrate on Wednesday.